Tripartisme (French:[tʁipaʁtism]) was the mode of government[1] in France from 1944 to 1947, when the country was ruled by a three-party alliance ofcommunists,socialists andChristian democrats, represented by theFrench Communist Party (PCF), theFrench Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) and thePopular Republican Movement (MRP), respectively.[2] The official charter oftripartisme was signed on 23 January 1946, following the resignation ofCharles de Gaulle, who opposed the draft of the constitution. The draft envisioned aparliamentary system, whereas de Gaulle favored apresidential system.
The traditional political class, which had included all theright-wing parties plus theRadical-Socialist Party that symbolized theThird Republic (1871–1940), was completely discredited by 1944. The reasons for this perceived lack of legitimacy included in the first instance theCollaborationism of several of these actors, as well as the failure in the 1930s to put an end to theeconomic crisis that had characterized the years of the Great Depression. Thus theDemocratic Republican Alliance, the main center-right party after the First World War, had opted for Collaborationism, an option endorsed by its leaderPierre-Étienne Flandin plus other members likeJoseph Barthélémy.
The political class was considered jointly responsible for the collapse in 1940 of the Third Republic following the disastrousBattle of France, which the historianMarc Bloch later described as the "strange defeat" (l'étrange défaite). In this way,Gaullism and Communism emerged as the most popular political forces in the country. De Gaulle, who favored a presidential system, quit the government in 1946 and henceforth remained in the opposition until his triumphal return during theMay 1958 crisis.[3] For their part, the MRP, SFIO and PCF each achieved somewhere between 20% and 30% of the votes, with approximately 150 deputies each between September 1944 and May 1947. Afterwards, the PCF and de Gaulle'sRally of the French People (RPF) became France's main parties; however, both remained in opposition, because on their own they could not muster theabsolute majority needed to form a government, and an alliance between them was inconceivable. The Three-Parties Alliance was succeeded in government by theThird Force, which comprised theDemocratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance (UDSR), the SFIO and the MRP, with the Gaullists and the Communists forming the opposition.
After theliberation of France, theVichy government was dissolved and theProvisional Government of the French Republic (GPRF) was instituted.[4] With most of the political class discredited, and containing many members who had more or lesscollaborated with the enemy, Gaullism and Communism became the most popular political forces in France.Charles de Gaulle had led theResistance abroad, while the PCF was nicknamed the "party of the 75,000 executed" (parti des 75 000 fusillés) because it had spearheaded the Resistance inmetropolitan France.[5] On the other hand, the Radical-Socialist Party, which symbolized by itself theFrench Third Republic (1871–1940), was completely discredited for the role it had taken both before and during the war; equally, theconservative parties were vilified for their role during the Collaboration.
The March 1944 Charter of theConseil National de la Résistance (CNR), theumbrella organization of the Resistance which was dominated by the CommunistFrancs-Tireurs et Partisans (FTP), envisioned the establishment of asocial democracy, including aplanned economy.Classical liberalism had been discredited during the1929 crisis and its inability to come up with a suitable response tothe Depression.
The GPRF introduced a program of social reforms and laid the foundations of the Frenchwelfare state.[6] It also enacted somenationalizations in strategic or/and Collaborationist-controlled economic sectors (including the 1946 founding ofÉlectricité de France electricity company, the 1945 nationalization of theAGF insurance firm, the nationalization of theCrédit Lyonnais bank in 1945 and theSociété Générale bank in 1946, as well as the nationalization of the car makerRenault, which had been accused of Collaborationism[7]).Trade union independence was guaranteed by the 1946Charter of Amiens. This program comprised a substantial part of the so-calledacquis sociaux (social rights) established in France during the second half of the twentieth century.
Charles de Gaulle led the GPRF from 1944 to 1946. Meanwhile, negotiations took place over the proposed new Constitution, which was to be put to a referendum. De Gaulle advocated a presidential system of government, and criticized the reinstatement of what he pejoratively called "the parties system". He resigned in January 1946 and was replaced byFélix Gouin (SFIO). Ultimately only the PCF and the SFIO supported the draft Constitution, which envisaged a form of government based onunicameralism; but this was rejected in thereferendum of 5 May 1946.
For the 1946 elections, theRally of the Republican Lefts (Rassemblement des gauches républicaines), which encompassed the Radical-Socialist Party, the UDSR and other conservative parties, unsuccessfully attempted to oppose the MRP-SFIO-PCF alliance. The newConstituent Assembly included 166 MRP deputies, 153 PCF deputies and 128 SFIO deputies, giving the Tripartite alliance anabsolute majority.Georges Bidault (MRP) replacedFélix Gouin as the head of government.
A new draft of the Constitution was written, which this time proposed the establishment of abicameral form of government.Léon Blum (SFIO) headed the GPRF from 1946 to 1947. After a new legislative election in June 1946, the Christian-DemocratGeorges Bidault assumed leadership of the cabinet. Despite de Gaulle's so-calleddiscourse of Bayeux of 16 June 1946, in which he denounced the new institutions,[8] the new draft was approved by theFrench people, with 53% of voters voting in favor (with 31% inabstention) in the13 October 1946 referendum. This culminated in the establishment in the following year of theFourth Republic, an arrangement in which executive power essentially resided in the hands of thePresident of the Council. ThePresident of the Republic was given a largely symbolic role, although he remained chief of the Army and as a last resort could be called upon to resolve conflicts.
The PCF won the most votes of any party in the November 1946 elections, achieving 28.8% of the vote and prompting the CommunistMaurice Thorez to make an unsuccessful bid for the presidency of the council.
The1946 Constitution establishing the Fourth Republic,[9] (1947–1958) created aparliamentary Republic, as distinct from thepresidentialism which would characterize theFifth Republic (1958-). Accordingly, the composition of the government was determined by the make-up of theParliament, and heavily relied on the formation of alliances between the most popular parties, which in practice meant the MRP, the SFIO and the PCF.
The PCF refused to approve war credits forIndochina on 19 March 1947.Minimum wages were introduced on 31 March, whilePaul Ramadier's SFIO government heavily repressed theMadagascar insurrection, resulting in 90,000 – 100,000 deaths. When Charles de Gaulle created theRally of the French People (RPF) in April 1947, the MRP prohibited its members from joining it. The MRP ceased to be the party of Gaullism and instead defined itself as Christian Democrat.
Tripartisme collapsed with theMay 1947 crisis in which Ramadier's government excluded the Communist ministers from participating; this was the event that marked the official start of theCold War in France.[10] The May 1947 crisis could be described as the result of the Communists' refusal to continue support for the French colonial reconquest of Vietnam on the one hand plus a wage freeze during a period of hyperinflation on the other, which were the immediate causes ofMaurice Thorez and his colleagues being dismissed from the ruling coalition in May 1947. From this moment on the Fourth Republic was plagued by parliamentary instability because two of France's most popular parties, de Gaulle's RPF and the PCF, remained on the opposition benches.[11]
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